While meeting with the soldiers in
the Scouts Battalion in Paldiski on Wednesday, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas
Paet said that Estonia highly values the contribution of soldiers participating
in foreign missions, reports LETA Foreign
Ministry press department.

“Estonian soldiers who are serving
or have served in foreign countries help to ensure stability and security in
concrete mission zones, but also make a major contribution to ensuring broader
international security, including that of Estonia,” Paet emphasised.

Foreign Minister Paet noted that
members of our Defence Forces have participated in international operations led
by NATO, the European Union, and the UN since 1995. “One of the most important
and also most difficult missions has been participation in the International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan,” Paet noted. The foreign
minister added that the activities of Estonian soldiers in Afghanistan have
helped to ensure security in Helmand Province and our soldiers’ skilled work
has earned widespread international recognition.

The Estonian foreign minister said
that this week President of Afghanistan Hamid
Karzai announced that Afghan forces had taken responsibility for security
onto themselves across the entire country. “One of the major goals of the
years-long work of ISAF, including the Estonian members, has been for the
country’s security forces to develop to the point where the Afghans can take
responsibility onto themselves,” said Paet. “Now this has been accomplished,
and Estonian soldiers played an important role in reaching this goal. However,
it is now necessary for an agreement to be reached among Afghanistan’s various
political powers in order for stable development to continue,” he emphasised.

The foreign minister added that
since Afghanistan will still need the support of the international community
after the Estonian forces have left in 2014, Estonia is prepared to contribute
to NATO’s new training mission in Afghanistan with a special operations unit
and a staff officer.

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